


Close to Home

by andrasstaie



Series: One Thing After Another: Elara Shepard's Story [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkwardness, Established Relationship, F/M, Filler, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Awkwardness, Light Angst, Mild Language, Non-Graphic Violence, Scene Rewrite, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-04-07 01:16:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4244001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andrasstaie/pseuds/andrasstaie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elara Shepard is not as confident as she makes everyone believe. One thing, however, is certain: she's in love with Garrus Vakarian. </p><p>Series of Shakarian-centric one shots starting in the events of the second game and running through the third.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Reach & Flexibility

Elara stood, hand hovering over the door controls, outside the station Garrus had taken up since rejoining her crew. Eyes closed, breath held as she tried to work up the courage to actually open the door. This was her second attempt. The first time, about an hour prior, EDI had - quite loudly - offered to open the door _for_ her. She’d nearly shrieked a “no” and disappeared back to her private quarters. And now here she was again, chewing on her bottom lip and staring at the closed door. _Shit, shit, shit._

For the life of her, Elara could not fathom where her confidence had come from the last time she and Garrus had spoken. She’d exuded it then, sultry and confident. And now, well now that deep well had apparently been tapped out and she was struggling to even manage the simple task of opening the door to say “hey, what’s up?”.

Leaning forward, she thunked her head lightly against the door. _Stupid, stupid. What’s wrong with you?_ she chided herself with a sigh. It _’s just Garrus. He’s your friend, that hasn’t changed._ Her mind drifted and she shivered at the thoughts. His reach, her flexibility. Did she really use that line? _Ugh_.

Sucking in a breath, Elara lifted her head when she found some semblance of courage. The door slid open on her command and her eyes landed on his back, the distinctive blue suit setting butterflies in her stomach. Swallowing a groan, she stepped in and smiled. 

“Hey Garrus, I was wondering if you had time to talk?” _Talk? Talk about what? You idiot._ As she waited for his response, she moved to sit on the crate in the corner of the small area.

“Yeah.” He tapped a button on his console and the door slid closed. A moment later, he turned around. “I’ve been thinking about what we talked about. Blowing off steam, easing tension…”

Elara froze, turning her head slowly to look at him. Well so much for easing into the conversation. She tipped her head aside and smiled at him as an encouragement to continue his thought.

“I’ve never considered cross-species intercourse.”

Blunt as ever. She bit back another groan.

“And damn, saying it that way doesn’t help.” He looked away from her, shifting in place a little. “Now I feel dirty,” he muttered. “And clinical.”

She had to choke back a laugh from escaping. For a second, just the barest of seconds, he looked as a small puppy that had accidentally been kicked. Damn him.

When she didn’t say anything, Garrus recovered himself and continued. “Are we crazy to even be thinking about this? I’m not sur-” He looked down at her feet, then up at her face. “Look, Shepard, I know you can find something a little closer to home.”

Elara frowned and crossed her arms. “You are as close to home as I’m going to get, Garrus.” Averting her gaze a moment, she flushed and cleared her throat. “That and, ah, I want someone I can trust. I want you.” She let one arm drop, rubbing her shoulder awkwardly with the other.

Silence settled. An awkward hesitance in the air and Elara looked up at her friend. “If you’re not comfortable with this, it’s okay.” She chewed on her bottom lip a moment, shifting in place and reaching up to brush a few loose strands of hair away from her face. “I’m not trying to pressure you,” she added.

Garrus let out a short chuckle, shaking his head. “You don’t ever have to worry about making me uncomfortable. Nervous, yes… but never uncomfortable.” He outstretched his arm just a little, just enough to set off her butterflies. But before he could reach her, he reconsidered and let it drop and turned away.

“I, uh..” He cleared his throat, turning to look at her again. “I’m not going to pretend I’ve got a fetish for humans… but this isn’t about that. This is about us.”

Elara began to thank every god she could fathom being in existence for the poor lighting in the room. From the warmth she felt, she knew how bright red her cheeks were. Even her ears burned under the embarrassment of the situation. If it was embarrassment at all, she wasn’t sure anymore what she was feeling.

“You’re about the only friend I’ve got left in this screwed-up galaxy,” he added after a long pause. Garrus tipped his head slightly before he shifted and paced a few steps away and then back toward her. “And I want to try it with you. I want a few moments that are just for us…” He paused his pacing, stopping within arm’s length of her. “Before we throw ourselves into hell for the good of the galaxy.”

She nodded slowly, a small and genuine smile finally creeping across her lips. “I want that too, Garrus. Have wanted that…” she cleared her throat. “Longer than I should, ah, probably admit.” She tittered, swaying slightly on her feet as even more blood felt like it was rushing to her head. Or perhaps away from it, Elara was losing track of her body’s reactions to this whole thing.

He hummed quietly, glancing aside at her feet. “Glad to hear it,” he said slowly. “I’ll do some, uh, research, and figure out how to… you know.” Garrus shifted awkwardly, looking up again at Elara. “Okay, that sounded bad.”

Elara had covered her mouth with one hand, stifling her reaction - an odd mix between a laugh, a cough, and somewhere in there a gasp. She scratched the back of her neck. “I’ll, um… I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Right,” he muttered as she made her escape. “‘Cause I’m in a great place to optimize firing algorithms right now.”

Offering him a smile before she fled the room, she caught one last glance of him over her shoulder. He looked… _oh_. Elara’s heart thrummed in her chest at the thought that raced in her head. _Well, at least it’s not just me._


	2. Stuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elevators are everywhere. Elara was kidding herself if she thought she'd never get stuck in one some day. At least the company isn't bad.

“Uh, Shepard?”

“Yes, Garrus?”

“You remember that date we had at the casino?”

Elara hummed, an ever so slight smirk tugging at her lips. “You mean the one where you tried to seduce me with _dancing_?”

“Yeah.. this isn’t payback, is it?”

Elara tipped her head back against the wall of the dark elevator, laughing. She could hear Garrus shifting, his armor clanking against the metal surrounding them.

“Why would I do that?” She tilted her head to look over at him.

Garrus chuckled. “I don’t know. Seemed like the sort of underhanded, shady thing Commander Shepard might try.”

Her laughter broke into a snort as she ended up tipping over against his shoulder. His mandible twitched as he looked at her, broken chuckles ringing off the enclosed space. She’d covered her mouth and nose, but it was in vain, the sound had already escaped.

“Now _that_ was a new sound.”

Elara’s hand dropped as she looked up at him. “You can’t tell me you haven’t heard a human snort while laughing before.”

“Not that I recall,” he drawled out.

“Huh. Well, now you have.”

She shifted away slightly, draping her arms over her knees as she stared into the darkness. She sighed as an easy silence settled between them.

“Garrus?”

“Yes, Shepard?”

Elara huffed out another sigh. “I hate elevators.”


	3. A Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elara is not afraid to show how worried she's been, or how much she missed Garrus.

The shuttle ride to Palaven’s moon was heart wrenching for Elara. Her mouth opened and closed as words utterly escaped her grasp. The indicators flashed, indicating the widespread destruction. The destruction so reminiscent of Earth when she’d been forced to flee. Yet that, alone, was not what left her heart twisting.

She turned a fearful gaze to Liara, her composure slipping. Her friend nodded sympathetically. Elara closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. She could do this. She could worry about him later. More was at stake.

“Prep weapons, I have a feeling this will be a bumpy landing.”

And, as usual it seemed, her gut did not lead her astray. Countless husks and one fixed comm tower later and she, Liara, and James were trudging back into the turian camp. Elara stepped up next to Corinthus, arms folded across her chest as she peered down at his map of the area. Troop movements were what caught her eye as she scanned the information.

“So we know the new primarch is Victus, but we don’t know where he is?”

Elara huffed out a sigh, rubbing her forehead as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. She made a mental note to ask EDI later what the probability would be on something going  _right_ for a change in the near future.

“Don’t worry, Shepard, we’ll find him.”

That voice. Elara’s eyes snapped up, going wide at the quite welcome sight.

“Garrus!” Elara practically skipped over to the familiar turian. Professionalism be damned.

He was chuckling, albeit awkwardly, when Elara reached him. She pressed a hand to the side of his face, his eyes closing as she let out a relieved sigh.

“God, I am so glad you’re safe.”

One last curt laugh escaped before he opened his eyes to look at her.

“I’m hard to kill, you know that.”


	4. Favorite Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elara finally gets a chance to properly express how she's felt for Garrus the last few years.

“So… are you ready to be a one Turian kind of woman?”

Elara laughed lightly, tipping her head down till it bumped against the front of his armor. She braced herself on his arm, looking back up with a warm smile.

“Do you even need to ask that?”

Garrus let out a short laugh, shrugging. “I suppose not, but it never hurts to hear the answer.”

He snaked an arm around her waist, tugging her flush against his body. Elara’s smile widened as she looked up at him, reaching one hand up to brush along the side of his face. She traced her fingers gently over the scars, giving a short and pleased little hum when he all but purred at the attention.

“After I died it… put a lot of things in perspective. I’d waited too long for the right moment to be with the one I cared about. Thought I’d… lost you for good.” Tears began to water behind her eyes, threatening to fall if she blinked too hard. “When I found you again… for a brief moment the future looked bright. Then you went and got a missile to the face.” She choked on a laugh. “Thanks for that, by the way, I’ve never been so scared in my  _life_.”

One tear slipped down her cheek as she blinked a few times in a vain attempt to clear the surge of emotion. Garrus let out a low, rumbling sound. Somewhere between a coo and a shushing sound as he wiped away the stray tears.

“The point is,” Elara tried again, her voice coming back. “I couldn’t wait anymore. I love you, Garrus Vakarian, and the thought of not being  _with_ you. I… I can’t.”

“Well…” He tipped his head down, his breath ghosting across her lips. “Good to know I’m not the only one.”

Elara didn’t wait, didn’t even give him the opportunity to say anything else. Setting her hands on either side of his face, she tugged him into a strong and passionate kiss. He dipped her backward, regaining control of the moment as she squealed against his mouth. Elara wrapped one leg around his to brace herself, sucking in a deep breath of air when they broke apart.

Garrus looked down at her, a brightness and warmth in his gaze. “Oh, yeah. This is  _definitely_ my new favorite place on the Citadel.”


	5. Sushi Shots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Elara, nothing is ever easy. Not even shore leave.

“Good thing Archangel is your boyfriend.”

Elara ducked her head, stifling a snort. “It’ll be an even better thing when you get your ass down here, Vakarian.”

“I’m already on my way.”

“Wait… who? Who are you? How did you get on this frequency?”

Leaning around a crate, Elara picked off one of her attackers and ducked back into cover. The chatter over her comm flared to life and she sighed. Typical. So typical.

“Brooks.  _Brooks_! He’s fine, it’s fine. Just. It’s fine.”

Huffing out another sigh, she shook her head and muttered a few curses under her breath. Sliding out from cover, she pressed forward, ducking into cover again when more men rounded the corner on her. _Dammit to hell_.

Three more dead mercenaries later and Elara ducked around the next corner to see the path blocked. Was nothing in life ever going to be easy? Ever?

“Shit,” she hissed to herself. Rubbing her temple with her free hand, she shook her head and slumped down against a nearby wall. Her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Even shore leave could never be easy. This was ridiculous. And, to top everything off, she was still hungry. Her stomach growled and she groaned, tipping her head back against the wall behind her and closing her eyes.

“Shepard? Are you still there?”

“I’m here Brooks.”

“Well there might be a problem. I think. I don’t know. It looks like C-Sec has locked that whole area down. I can’t get that door open from where I am. Is there, uh, is there any way you can try to go around?”

Slowly, Elara rocked her head up and down, beating it against the wall behind her. Never. Easy.

“I can probably override it, just give me a minute.”

Every muscle and joint in her body screamed at her as she slowly hoisted herself up to her feet. Cuts and bruises lined her bare arms and legs, stinging and throbbing with the movements.  _I shouldn’t have sat down. Damn it all._

Her Spectre access did the trick, as the irritating mechanical voice cheerfully informed her.  _Good_. Taking a deep breath, she started forward again.

“All right, it worked, I’m through.”

She ducked into cover, voices shouting orders from the other side of the walkway. “Just once I’d like for the bad guys to run out of cannon fodder. Is that too much to ask? Just one time?”

“You really think that would ever happen? Come on, Shepard, none of us are _that_ lucky.”

She chuckled, keeping low as she moved along the benches. “I don’t know, Garrus, I got lucky with you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but that’s different.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Umm, not to cut in, but we should probably keep your comms clear. They’re probably using it to, you know, track you.”

“Hey, he started it.”

Grinning to herself, Elara popped up from her cover to pick off a couple of her attackers. Shifting aside then, she ducked back down and peered around a corner. Her eyes darted from cover spot to cover spot, picking out her targets carefully. Her thermal clip was about spent and she had yet to see another in sight.  _Shit. What I wouldn’t give to be a biotic right about now_.

Another sigh as she broke cover to snipe off two more of the mercenaries. Crouching down again, she looked at the pistol in her hand and growled in frustration. Three more shots, by the fourth she came up empty.  _God help me. If I make it out of this alive, you and I need a heart to heart about all this shit you throw at me._

Adjusting her grip on the pistol, Elara sucked in a breath and dove into another spot of cover closer to the mercenaries. A few shots whizzed past her head and she grunted as she kept low. Voices again. Two this time as the remaining two men barked at each other with directions. Elara rolled her eyes, sliding around the corner and slithering up behind one of the two.

Under her firm grasp, his neck snapped and she ducked back into cover as the other one started firing at her again. _Shit, shit, shit. Dammit._

Cringing as one shot seared across her arm, Elara hissed. With a hope and a prayer, she popped up long enough from her cover to lob the gun in his direction. And, much to her great surprise, it hit home; the man crumpling with a pained yelp.

“Well that never happens.” Elara stood up, staring down at the man. Laughter bubbled up, but she tamped down on it immediately. The pain was not worth the outward display of her amusement. Heading over to the unconscious man, she rifled through his pockets to find some spare clips. Successful, she hummed happily to herself. “These’ll do nicely.”

Replacing the clip as she retrieved her pistol and turned it on the man. A bullet to the head before she pressed forward. Ahead she could hear shots being fired and Elara squinted as she peered around the corner. All she could see were two more mercenaries, but not who they were shooting at. Once again, typical.

Gun up, she went up to the door prepared to head in blazing. But the last of the mercenaries dropped and she stopped in her tracks. Lowering the gun, she set a hand on her hip.

“About damn time.”

Garrus came around from behind one of the sky cars, chuckling. “Nice to see you, too, Shepard.”

He stopped within arms reach, extended a hand toward her, but changed his mind. Curling his fingers back, he dropped the hand and looked her over. Elara rolled her eyes, snorting at him.

“Hell Garrus, it’s just water and blood, nothing you haven’t touched before.”

“That wasn’t…” he shook his head. “Never mind. Are you all right?”

“I’ve lost track of what hurts, I’m soaking wet, and if that’s not bad enough I’m hungry enough I could eat a thresher maw. By myself.” She inhaled a deep breath. “So yes, I’m fine.”

Garrus shuffled in place, tipping his head to one side. “Well… you look good, at least.”

“And I’ll look even better when you get me out of this dress and into that hot tub in the apartment.”

She bit her lip, inhaling a sharp breath through her nostrils. Quickly, she brushed past him before he could catch the flush of her cheeks. Garrus hummed in thought before turning around, his eyes following her movements. Elara could  _feel_ his gaze on her, which only served to fan the flames.

“I like that sound of that.” He gave a light, low chuckle. “But, uh, we probably need to get out of here first.”


	6. Alternatives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elara's been rather stressed lately, and try as she might, Garrus has still noticed. And he's decided to suggest something... outside the box to help her.

The door slid open, but no sounds greeted Garrus as he crossed the threshold into the apartment. He took a cautious few steps forward, his eyes darting around with suspicious. A quiet sniffle drew his attention upstairs. His mandible flared when he heard it again, concern darkening his gaze as he trotted in that direction.

Up the stairs, across the short hall and he saw Elara sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed. Her knees were pulled up close to her chest, one arm wrapped around as she stubbornly tried to rub tears away from her eyes.

“Shepard.”

His sub vocals hummed as he cooed her name, concern hanging over his tone. She gasped, her whole body convulsing in her surprise. Garrus felt his heart twist as he quickly crossed the remaining distance between them.

“Garrus,” she whispered behind a sniffle. “Did you need something?”

He huffed at her, kneeling down at her side. Tentatively, he reached one hand up to place gently on her shoulder. “I need to know you’re all right.”

“I’m fine,” she lied. The tears had begun to fade away, the calm and collected face of the Commander returning once more.

Garrus shook his head disapprovingly. “I know you better than that.”

She sighed, finally dragging her gaze up to him. A weak smile splayed across her lips. “Too well sometimes,” she murmured.

“I wanted to, uh, try something.” He stood abruptly then, holding out a hand to help her up. Elara took his hand and hoisted herself up, using her other to rub away any remaining tears.

“I was… talking to Traynor,” he started. His mandible twitched as he glanced over his shoulder toward the bathroom. “She suggested some, uh,  _other_ ways humans like to… uh, unwind. Relieve stress?” He shuffled his feet slightly, his sub vocals offering an awkward hitch to his words.

Elara arched a brow at him, tipping her head in curiosity.

“There’s no easy way to ask this,” Garrus finally managed. “Do you want me to wash your hair? Traynor said it’s very relaxing…”


End file.
